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Buyers Guide

Last Updated: March 16, 2023

It’s not easy running a child care center. Even after administrators have met licensing requirements, determined a legal structure, found the perfect location and hired staff, they still have to handle a variety of daily tasks to keep kids (and their parents) happy.

Child care software helps users manage the day-to-day aspects of running a daycare center or preschool. Among other things, these systems can automate administrative tasks, keep attendance records, store parents’ contact information, track children’s health data and help users schedule classes and appointments.

This guide can help potential buyers find the best solution for their needs. Here’s what we’ll cover:

What Is Child Care Software?

Common Functionality of Child Care Software

Benefits of Child Care Management Software

Pricing: Web-Based vs. On-Premise

Industry Trends

What Is Child Care Software? 

Child care professionals are busy, and it can be difficult for them to not only keep up with their young charges, but stay on top of administrative, scheduling and financial duties, as well. That’s where child care management software comes in: It helps child care workers simplify and streamline the manual processes they do every day, including recordkeeping, billing, attendance and immunization tracking.

Child care management software is also known as “child care administrative software” or “daycare management software.” The technology is useful for all kinds of child care centers, including:

• Day-care centers

• Licensed family child care homes

• Early childhood education programs/preschools

• After-school programs

• Drop-in programs

Once an organization is ready to open its doors to potential clients, it’s never too early to invest in a software system. Doing so can ensure they’re organized from the start and set up for success.

For example, some center administrators think a single-application software, such as an accounting program from an industry-agnostic vendor, will be enough to fulfill their needs. However, that isn’t ideal for long-term growth. It’s usually better to get a dedicated child care management solution because it lets you streamline every aspect of the business, eliminating the need to buy different applications from multiple vendors that don’t interface with one another.

Common Functionality of Child Care Management Software

Most child care management systems will come with some or all of the following capabilities:

Benefits of Child Care Management Software

Daycare and preschool facilities can realize many benefits as a result of adopting child care management software, including:

Less administrative work. Generally, staff in a daycare or preschool facility handles both administrative and physical child care duties. This software automates administrative tasks, such as online registration, so employees can focus their energy on the children themselves.

Improved communication with parents. Working parents don’t need to worry or inquire about their children. With child care management software, your facility can send parents notifications about their child throughout the day via native mobile apps or text messaging.

Advanced meal and nutrition planning. Some vendors offer tools for tracking the number of provided meals, as well as for planning breakfast, lunch and snacks based on the nutritional requirements of each child. With this functionality, child care centers can give growing kids the nourishment they need.

Greater staff coordination. As opposed to paper-based records, digital systems are accessible to multiple users in separate locations. This makes it easier for employees to update any necessary documentation and for the business to scale.

Pricing: Cloud-Based vs. On-Premise

There are two main pricing models prevalent in this market. Select the one that best fits your budget and business model:

Cloud-based software. These solutions are typically priced on a monthly or an annual subscription basis. They require low or no upfront investment, and vendors handle system maintenance and updates. This option is often best for small and midsize businesses that may not have the resources to invest in and manage an on-premise system.

On-premise software. These systems typically require purchasing a perpetual license for a substantial upfront fee. There are no recurring license fees, but extra fees may apply for implementation assistance, maintenance, support and updates.

No matter which system you choose, over a period of time, pricing for these two models tends to converge. You can check out our total cost of ownership calculator to learn more.

Industry Trends

Mobile device integration. Systems are starting to introduce native apps for mobile devices that can be used for administrative purposes or to connect with parents. For example, some apps may allow you to track child arrivals and departures by asking parents to check in and out of your center with a tablet placed near the entrance. On the other hand, some apps are meant to be downloaded by parents and can be used as a platform to exchange pictures and messages about their children with your staff.

Staff training and development. If you want to attract and retain great employees, you may want to consider offering them professional development opportunities, such as enrolling them in online child care courses. Software can help you keep track of which staff members have completed training programs and received certifications.

The best kindergarten in the world

Blog / 12.03.2019 16.01.2023

The best kindergarten in the world According to UNESCO and in our opinion.

“Do not protect your children too much. Sometimes they need to fall… It helps them understand how to live in this world.”

In the western suburbs of Tokyo in 2007, a very unusual kindergarten was opened, which was named Fuji. From the point of view of architecture, this is a huge roof, which actually does not have a closed space under it and acts as a full-fledged playground for more than six hundred kids.

Kindergarten – or “children’s jungle”?

“Our fundamental principle in designing this kindergarten can be called the principle of the jungle. The most important thing is not to put children in the cage of circumstances and rules. To make sure that the child has a choice, to understand the child, says Japanese architect Takaharu Tezuka, the creator of the project. “In our jungle, everyone can find a place for themselves – stay in the shade, climb a tree or go out into the open.”

Tezuka finds the standard classroom design unnatural and counterproductive. The absence of blank walls and rigid educational frameworks in Fuji encourages independence and cooperation, without forcing children to sit still during endless lessons.

Moving away from conventional building standards that so often diverge from the real needs of children, Tezuka has created a space where children feel as free and natural as possible. Very touching – during the presentations of his project, the architect compares the children to “monkeys” and “sheep”:

“We leave them upstairs on the roof – just like sheep. They keep running and running!”

“During events, children sit on the edge of the roof. It looks so cute from below, like monkeys in a zoo.”

Surprisingly, at Fuji Kindergarten, on average, toddlers cover a distance of four thousand meters per day! In athletic terms, they are incomparably more developed than the children of most other children’s institutions. At the same time, Takaharu Tezuka’s kindergarten is suitable not only for those children who are considered to be “normal”.

One woman brought her daughter with special needs. She was told, “Our garden is for everyone, including your daughter.” She was very surprised, because in educational institutions such children are rarely welcome. The woman replied: “We don’t want to be a burden, I can pick her up at any time.” But in the “children’s jungle” something amazing happened to the girl: the baby, who under normal conditions could scream for any reason, here behaved like any other child and played on an equal footing with everyone!

Kindergarten premises are open most of the year and there are no boundaries between indoor and outdoor areas. That is, from the point of view of architecture, this building is just a roof. To, for example, hide from the rain – if you want to hide from it, of course! As Tezuka says, not a single child has ever melted in the rain.

“We’re trying to get everything under control these days… Children need danger in small doses. In such situations, they learn to help each other. This is society. Now we are missing out on those learning opportunities.”

The woman replied, “We don’t want to be a burden, I can pick her up at any time.” But in the “children’s jungle” something amazing happened to the girl: the baby, who under normal conditions could scream for any reason, here behaved like any other child and played on an equal footing with everyone!

Kindergarten students move around a lot and freely, they are free to choose where to go, in which class to study. Kindergarten follows an educational approach in which children are allowed to learn freely through discovery.

There is no special equipment for games and, moreover, no modern “developing” gadgets. The architecture itself, which is a giant playground without formal boundaries, allows children to experience the world in the most natural setting.

How does this kindergarten work?

Let’s finally take a look inside this amazing structure.

There is no special play equipment in Fuji. The roof area acts as both a playground and a running track. The deck is built around trees, the holes for which are covered with rope netting for easy climbing.

Ceiling height – only two meters; this is necessary in order to create a sense of the integrity of the space. In addition, children can very easily climb up and down the stairs to the roof.

The roof has built-in windows that allow natural light into the classrooms and act as portholes through which children can look out at their classmates. And yet, according to the assurances of the author of the project, it is through these hatches that Santa climbs into the kindergarten every year!

Sliding doors at ground level open in warm weather and close in bad weather. Instead of installing walls, the architects decided to create boxes made of lightweight wood with safe edges.

Children can independently build a wall out of them where they please, or help the educator in this matter.

Interestingly, Fuji Garden does not have any acoustical boundaries, allowing the sound to “diffuse” without creating a tense atmosphere, while maintaining a constant noise level.

“We consider noise to be very important. You know that children sleep better in noisy places… And in this kindergarten, children show amazing concentration in the classroom. You know, our species grew up in a noisy jungle. They need noise. You don’t have to live in silence.”

Takaharu Tezuka’s Amazing Kindergarten is an inspiring example of how unorthodox engineering and passion can impact the quality of life for many, many people. Takaharu believes that architecture can change the world.

If children are given the opportunity to develop freely in their natural environment, they will become the “architects” of our new, better future.

Best Kindergarten

Designing Fuji Kindergarten in the outskirts of Tokyo, Takaharu
Tezuka and his wife Yui tried to think like children. They turned the oval roof
above the kindergarten building into the playground, and through the classrooms
let the trees grow.
When Dad and Mom Tezuka, inspired by their own children, who are now 12
and 9years, they started work, they did not have a ready idea. Learn the design of others
kindergarten was like looking in the rearview mirror: even if
come very close, located in front is not visible. So what should be
a kindergarten where children can be children?

The round shape of the building reflects the idea of ​​endless movement.

Earth was poured at the base of the stairs leading to the roof. This
a trick to make the stairs shorter. But when 600 children, playing, became
to pull away the earth, the embankment began to disappear. The school constantly asks for construction
company to restore the embankment. Children love to ride down the slide, but the designers don’t
they really wanted to stage it: it tells the children what to do and what not to do. A
without such devices, children must invent games themselves. Gorku all the same
put: the kindergarten needs a fire exit.

Japanese peculiarity: Japan accounts for 10% of major
earthquakes. Therefore, children are taught how to behave in case of
danger. Toddlers put on special hats that protect
head.

railings are fixed, should be such that the head of the child does not pass there.
But they can stick their legs between the bars! Children love to sit with their legs dangling.
Chimpanzees do the same, it’s a touching sight.

When construction began, the trees on the site were already
grew. It was not easy to construct the building in a way that did not damage them extensively.
spreading roots. Tree trunks pass through special holes in
roof, and so that children do not fall into them, they pulled special nets. But kids love
play with nets, jump and swing in hammocks. Concern for safety gave
an occasion to give children another opportunity to play. The toy can be
All!

Children love to look through the sunroof, they look out
friends or are interested in what is happening in the classroom. If, being
upstairs, look down, you can always see children looking up. Between
there are no blank walls in the rooms. Children hear noise from the street and from other rooms. Spouses
Tezuka admits that this is a distraction, but they believe that children need noise,
but soundproofing can cause them excessive anxiety.

Once a week, children and teachers rearrange the furniture in
classrooms. Little boys and girls are supposed to help
put furniture in a new way, but they are of little use. But they play
train. The school is equipped with six hundred kiri wood boxes. Children can
play with them without getting hurt.